Brothel trio to lose assets

Brothel operators who had dozens of illegal immigrants from Thailand working as prostitutes are to be stripped of their assets after an Appeal Court ruling.

Sharon Haisman, of Thetford, Norfolk; Ronald Miller, of Northampton, and Myles Lant, of Washwater, Newbury, Berkshire, all pleaded guilty to various charges at Northampton Crown Court two years ago.

Haisman, 43, admitted exercising control over prostitutes; Miller, 68, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring illegal entrants into the country, and Lant, 40, to living off immoral earnings.

Haisman was given a non-custodial sentence, Lant was jailed for a year and Miller four years.

Substantial profits

The three had run brothels in Northampton and Leicester using girls brought in from Thailand.

The Crown Court heard the businesses made substantial profits.

In June 2001 confiscation orders were issued against Haisman for £35,000 and Lant for £8,300 based on their realisable assets. In December 2001 Miller was deemed to be worth £70,000.

All three claimed at the Court of Appeal earlier this month the confiscation of assets was unlawful on a technical legal point and should be quashed.

Claims ill-founded

But on Thursday Lord Justice Potter, sitting with Mr Justice Curtis and Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC, dismissed those claims as ill-founded.

The court heard Miller and his wife Angela - a Thai national who also pleaded guilty - set up a brothel in Northampton in 1985, which was later run by Haisman.

They soon opened a second brothel, and after an argument Angela Miller opened a third establishment in Leicester with Lant.

All the businesses collapsed following police raids in 1998.